1. Field of the Invention
Global warming has become a serious social issue. Since the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels at factories etc. is believed to be one of the main causes of this problem, it is necessary to develop technologies for recovering the carbon dioxide already discharged into the atmosphere and fixing the recovered carbon dioxide or for separating and recovering the carbon dioxide present at high concentration and high temperature in exhaust gases. Organic separating materials cannot be used for the separation and recovery of hot carbon dioxide because they are not sufficiently resistant to heat. Thus, ceramic materials, which are thermally stable by nature, are potential candidates for the separating material. This invention provides a method for the separation of nitrogen and carbon dioxide by the use of sepiolite, a clayish mineral, and is believed to be capable of contributing immensely to the preservation of the global environment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
No ceramic separating material has been proposed to date for use in the separation and recovery of high-temperature carbon dioxide entrained by the exhaust gas from a factory or the like.